‘So-Called Living’ #3 Reviewed — Quality Is Still Arguable
by Benjamin Hall
Summary
New vampire Jack is still adjusting to being such. Yet, in a world of the supernatural and the mythological he needs to learn fast. Cause someone is looking for him due to his sudden change. Can Jack adjust before a possibly violent confrontation?
Overall
5/10Writer Mark Maia continues to go for a Clerks: The Animated Series (2000-2002) vibe with the comedy. Some of this comedic vibing is to clear success. However, there are still some jokes that may be less successful than others. A negative of this narrative is that it seems to hinge too much on comedic moments and not enough on a plot. Also, the main character knowing certain rules of his world — and his vampirism — and not others is a weak point. Not to mention Maia is apparently still doing set-up, which is arguably causing what there is of a plot to be slow. On the plus side, this issue’s comedy and characterization seem better than what is in the second issue.
Artist Marco Leone does a great job with the comedic moments. This is especially true for the moments that call for over-the-top cartoonish effects. Leone is still doing a good job with keeping characters on model. Also Leone’s line work is still displaying confidence. Unfortunately, he still needs to work on page and panel layouts. For example, one panel has a bird’s eye view from inside an environment where the spacing between two characters is too large.
The colorist team Casbri Studio continues to provide consistent palettes to each page. They do a good job with suggesting lighting. Although they do a decent work with coloring darker environments they could arguably do it better. They still seem to leave the colors a tad too light in these areas. Still, their work pairs well with the styles of art and comedy in this narrative.
Letterer Simona Di Napoli does fine enough with sizing the text. However, Napoli needs to do better with consistently positioning word balloons and their anchors near enough to the respective speakers.
Yet again, the covers are not seeing examination due to Mark Maia using AI assistance for a set. Presumably, like with the first kickstarter campaign he is only using original work that he owns in the prompt generator he utilizes for the assistance.
So-Called Living #3 is out now on webtoons. It will have digital, and presumably physical, copies available for order with the upcoming kickstarter in October from Maia Comics.
